Congratulations to the winners of both CreateDebate Spring Fever contests. The winner of the “Tell Your Friends” contest will receive a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees and the winners of the “Earth Day” contest have won six great books from Hachette Book Group.

Tell Your Friends Contest Results

Congratulations to Kuklapolitan for getting the most people to join CreateDebate by using our new Site Invitation feature.  For inviting her friends to join CreateDebate, Kukla has earned a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees.

Earth Day Contest Results

Contest	Winner	Debate
Highest Debate Score	JakeJ	Did Obama Lie?
Most Debate Views	Ledfoot	Should Bush and company be prosecuted for torture?
Twitter Follower	Fjania	n/a
Facebook Fan	Hagaren414	n/a
Most Points	joecavalry	n/a

Now that the weather is starting to warm up and everyone is gearing up for Spring, it’s time to make sure you’ve got some sweet gear to rock when you emerge from your winter slumber.  To help you out, CreateDebate has partnered with ClutchTees.com to give away a $20 gift certificate for a free t-shirt this month.  We’re also giving away some more free books courtesy of our good friends at Hachette Book Group to keep your mind sharp.

Contest #1- Tell Your Friends (April 14th-30th)

Invite your friends to join CreateDebate and win a $20 gift certificate from ClutchTees.  Simply click here and invite all of your friends, family, co-workers, enemies, and random people on the street to join CreateDebate.  Whoever gets the most people to join CreateDebate wins the gift certificate and can choose from any of the awesome t-shirts!

Contest #2- Earth Day Celebration (April 22nd-May 8th)

Global warming or climate rotation?  Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming?  These are just a couple of the debates on CreateDebate regarding Mother Earth.  Well, regardless of your thoughts on these topics,  April 22nd is Earth Day, and CreateDebate wants to help you celebrate Mother Earth by giving away some great books.  Winners will be selected for each of the following:

1.  The creator of the debate with the highest “Debate Score” during the contest.
2.  The creator of the debate with the most “Debate Views” during the contest.   Feel free to get creative in marketing your debate.  Post it to Digg, email your friends and family, encourage your co-workers to use it, or any other crazy idea that you can come up with to drive traffic to your debate.
3. One randomly chosen user who follows CreateDebate on Twitter.
4. One randomly chosen user who becomes a fan of CreateDebate on Facebook.
5. Top user with the most points during the contest.

The following books will be given to the 5 winners:
Harvest for Hope By Jane Goodall , Gary McAvoy , Gail Hudson
The Rural Life By Verlyn Klinkenborg
Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit? By Steve Lowe , Alan McArthur , Brendan Hay
Starbucked By Taylor Clark
Garbage Land By Elizabeth Royte
The Gift of Nothing By Patrick McDonnell

There has been much discussion on CreateDebate about the use / abuse of downvotes on the site and certain participants getting “mass” downvoted, causing their efficiency score to drop dramatically.  In order to combat this problem and provide greater transparency around voting, we have decided to implement the following:

1. Each downvote now costs the downvoter 1 Reward Point.
2. The downvote is now displayed in the User’s Reward Point history.

In our opinion, the main problem isn’t downvotes, per se, but rather encouraging responsible downvoting.  We believe that flawed logic or inherently poor arguments should be downvoted, but that participants should not mass downvote a person with whom they disagree.

In our opinion, downvoting should be reserved for poorly thought out, offensive, stupid, or totally-off-base arguments.  If you disagree strongly with someone’s argument, then we encourage you to rebut their argument, citing logical fallacies, incorrect information, or poor argumentation.  In this way you can help maintain the integrity of CreateDebate and help that participant to understand what you disagree with in their argument.

If you need some reminders on how to write strong arguments, check out our previous blog post on this exact topic.

Congratulations to the winners of each of the three contests that CreateDebate ran as part of our  Mental Stimulus Package in February.  This month, we gave away ninety-five books from Hachette Book Group and a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees.

Love Is In the Air Contest Results

Contest	Winner	Debate
Highest Debate Score	Frenchieak	Valentine’s Day!
Most Debate Views	DaWolfman	Does this saying apply to you on Valentine’s Day?
Judge’s Choice	Rothl	Should 7th grade students be allowed to use this website?
Most Points #1	JakeJ	n/a
Most Points #2	joecavalry	n/a

Celebrating Diversity Contest Results

Contest	Winner	Debate
Highest Debate Score	DaWolfman	Who was/is the greatest civil rights leader?
Most Debate Views	Frenchieak	The New Pepsi Symbol?
Judge’s Choice	Xaeon	Is it acceptable to impinge on certain civil liberties for the sake of national security?
Most Points #1	joecavalry	n/a
Most Points #2	JakeJ	n/a

Show Your Tees Contest Results

Congratulations to Sparsley for proposing the Best Original T-Shirt Design for Clutch Tees as voted on by the CreateDebate community. For his creativity, Sparsley has earned a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees.

While lawmakers are figuring out how they can take more of taxpayer’s money to give to Wall St. executives, CreateDebate wants to give YOU something free.  That’s why we’re officially bailing out our awesome debaters via CreateDebate’s Mental Stimulus Package.  We will be running three different contests this month, with tons of awesome prizes courtesy of our good friends at Hachette Book Group and ClutchTees.com.

Contest #1- Love is in the Air (February 7th -14th)

With Valentine’s Day coming up soon, CreateDebate would like to share a little love with everyone.  We will be running 5 concurrent contests through Valentine’s Day, and the winner of each contest will get one free copy of all 11 books below.  Winners will be selected for each of the following:

1.  The creator of the debate with the highest “Debate Score” during the contest.
2.  The creator of the debate with the most “Debate Views” during the contest.   Feel free to get creative in marketing your debate.  Post it to Digg, email your friends and family, encourage your co-workers to use it, or any other crazy idea that you can come up with to drive traffic to your debate.
3. Judge’s choice for best debate during the contest.
4. Top 2 users with most points during the contest.

Note:  All debates must be tagged “VDayContest” in order to be eligible for the prizes.  Debates do not have to be about Valentine’s Day, but relevance will be a factor in the judge’s choice contest.

1. Love in 90 Days By Diana Kirschner
2. Sundays at Tiffany’s By James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
3. Free Yourself to Love By Jackie Kendall
4. The Italian Lover By Robert Hellenga
5. Looking for Mrs. Friedman and Other Really Bad Ideas by Steve Friedman
6. Getting Naked Again By Judith Sills 
7. We Take This Man By Candice Dow , Daaimah Poole
8. Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me By Ben Karlin
9. Sexcapades By HoneyB
10. Love and Other Natural Disasters By Holly Shumas
11. Send Yourself Roses By Kathleen Turner

Contest #2- Celebrating Diversity (February 15th -28th)

February is African American History Month, and CreateDebate is all about diversity. Diversity of thought, age, political party, ethnicity, race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, and religion are just a few of the diversity attributes that make CreateDebate such a great place.

In honor of African American History Month, CreateDebate will be running 5 concurrent contests through the end of the month and the winner of each contest will get one free copy of each of the 8 books below. Winner’s will be selected for each of the following:

1. The creator of the debate with the highest “Debate Score” during the contest.
2. The creator of the debate with the most “Debate Views” during the contest. Feel free to get creative in marketing your debate. Post it to Digg, email your friends and family, encourage your co-workers to use it, or any other crazy idea that you can come up with to drive traffic to your debate.
3. Judge’s choice for best debate during the contest.
4. Top 2 users with most points during the contest.

Note: All debates must be tagged “AAHMContest” in order to be eligible for the prizes. Debates do not have to be about African American History Month, but relevance will be a factor in the judge’s choice contest.

1. The American Journey of Barack Obama By The Editors of Life Magazine
2. Fledgling By Octavia Butler
3. Stand the Storm By Breena Clarke
4. Red River By Lalita Tademy
5. Keep the Faith: A Memoir By Faith Evans
6. Say You’re One of Them By Uwem Akpan
7. The Shack By William Young
8. The Bishop’s Daughter By Tiffany Warren
   

Contest #3- Show Your Tees (February 7th -28th)

CreateDebate has partnered with Clutch Tees to put some clothes on your back.  Unleash your creativity and help Clutch Tees come up with a new T-shirt design.  Post your original T-shirt idea to the Clutch Tees Debate, and the best design as voted on by the CreateDebate community will win a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees.  If they decide to make your T-shirt, then you will receive a $50 gift certificate!

We hope that you enjoy these contests as much as we do!  Best of luck, we look forward to some great creativity in February!

We just launched a new version of CreateDebate that will let you personalize your debates more than ever!  Go ahead and create a new debate.  The new interface makes it easy to insert pictures, add videos from YouTube or Google Video, add unlimited hyperlinks, format your text, and so much more!

The moderator panel has been upgraded as well.  It is now possible to edit every facet of your debates, including tags, pictures, categories, etc. It is even possible to go back and improve or fine tune older debates.

At CreateDebate, our goal is to empower people to make better decisions.  We hope that by providing you with a more powerful toolset, you’ll be able to create even more interesting and compelling debates.  What are you waiting for, go check it out!

PS - If you find any any elusive bugs, please drop a note or leave a comment (and include the version of your current browser).  Thanks!

As 2008 comes to a close, it’s time to take a step back and look at the topics, news stories, and people that consumed our thoughts and passion throughout the year on CreateDebate.  2008 was a remarkable year in every sense of the word.  From the launch of CreateDebate into the wild to a historic election, global economic meltdowns, and enough social issues to debate for eternity this year will certainly go down in history. To that end, CreateDebate would like to take a nostalgic look backwards at the topics that shaped our world in 2008.

Political Debates

Politics was at the top of everyone’s mind in 2008, a landmark US election year which was guaranteed to make history no matter who won the Presidential race.  For the first time in history, an African-American was elected as President of the United States, thanks in large part to a phenomenal grassroots campaign leveraging the power of the Internet.  People on all sides of the political spectrum were passionate about their candidates and issues and leveraged CreateDebate as a platform to make their case.

1. Who is going to be the next president of the United States?
2. Was Gov. Sarah Palin the right choice for McCain’s VP running mate?
3. Capitalism vs. Socialism:  Which economic theory is better?
4. Are George Bush and Tony Blair guilty of war crimes?
5. Who should I vote for in the 2008 New Mexico Senate Race?

Social Issues Debates

Social issues were also top of mind for many people in 2008.  Many oft-debated topics such as abortion and gun rights surfaced as hot button issues, as well as more recent social issues such as gay marriage, global warming, and stem cell research.

1. Should abortion be legal?
2. Should guns be banned in America?
3. Should the US government fund stem cell research?
4. Are humans responsible for global warming?
5. How can gay marriage hurt anyone?

Religion Debates

Religion continued to be a popular subject to debate in 2008, from the very existence of a God (or gods) to interpretations of various religious doctrines, our users debated it all in 2008.

1. Do you believe in God?
2. Is homosexuality a sin?
3. Has evolution been scientifically proven?
4. Would the world be a better place without religions?
5. Jesus Christ: Fact or Fiction?

Economic Debates

The economy was on a lot of people’s minds this year as unprecedented turbulence in the financial markets wreaked havoc throughout the world.  The US government intervened in ways not seen since the Great Depression, and people throughout the world saw the values of their homes and retirement portfolios plummet.  Through it all, CreateDebate was there to capture the thoughts and passion of the people.

1. Should the US government bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
2. Outsourcing of US jobs to foreign countries:  bad or good?
3. Do you want Congress to approve the $700B bailout?
4. Should the US remove the ban on offshore drilling?
5. Is a federal sales tax more fair than the current income tax?

Entertainment Debates

2008 wasn’t all serious, and people took time away from worrying about the economy and politics to engage in debate about popular culture phenomena as well.  Here’s a look at some of the top less serious debates.

1. What’s the best band of all time? 
2. Will Mac ever beat PC?
3. Who will be the winner of this debate?
4. Bud Light or Miller Lite?
5. What’s the funniest pick up line you’ve ever heard?

Most Popular Blog Posts

The CreateDebate blog gives us a great creative outlet to discuss life at CreateDebate, tout new features that we’ve rolled out, and a soapbox to voice our thoughts on different topics that shape our world.  Several of our posts caused quite a stir this year, and we hope to continue stirring the pot in the years to come.

1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Internet Users
2. How to Write Strong Arguments
3. How to Spot and Destroy Weak Arguments
4. Top 10 Religion Debates of All Time
5. Listening to Customers is Hard, Hard, Hard

About the 2008 Most Popular Methodology
To develop the CreateDebate Year in Review, our editors analyzed debate statistics based upon a number of factors, including traffic volume, argument volume, and diversity of participation to see which themes and trends bubble to the surface.

About CreateDebate
CreateDebate is the Internet’s leading social debating community that serves to help users make better decisions by understanding various viewpoints of a given issue.  The community is built around ideas, discussion, and democracy. CreateDebate provides a framework that makes compelling and meaningful debates easy to create and fun to use.

After more than 50,000 nominations and 80,000 verified votes, we’re pleased to announce that CreateDebate is a finalist in Mashable’s 2nd Open Web Awards!

Mashable has selected the three start-ups in each category that have received the most votes. CreateDebate was nominated in the politics category and thanks to you we are only 1 round away from winning the whole thing!

We are very excited to be in the final and we would love even more to win. Therefore please vote for us using the widget below. Remember you can vote once every 24 hours between now and midnight PST on December 14th.

Thanks to you, CreateDebate has been officially nominated in Mashable’s 2008 Open Web Awards in the Politics category!  You can read the official announcement here.

Now it’s time to help us win the award by voting for us!  You can vote for one company in each category per day until midnight on November 30th.

About the Open Web Awards:
The only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology.  It is a unique opportunity for the most accomplished websites and services to receive international recognition for their achievements.

Mashable is once again holding the 2008 Open Web Awards.  Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology.

Help us win recognition by nominating us!  Nominations close Sunday, November 16th at 11:59 pm PST so there’s no time to sleep on this.